Second-period burst sends Chippewa over Jr. Blues

Staff report

Sunday

Mar 17, 2019 at 12:28 AMMar 17, 2019 at 12:28 AM

The Chippewa Steel scored three times in just over 2 minutes early in the second period Saturday night en route to a 6-2 North American Hockey League win over the Springfield Jr. Blues at the Nelson Center.

The win gave the Steel a split of the two-game series. The Jr. Blues, in third place in the NAHL Midwest Division, clinched a playoff berth with a 7-4 victory on Friday.

Chippewa led 1-0 after one period Saturday on a power-play goal by Dylan Moulton midway through the first.

The Steel then jumped on Jr. Blues goaltender Janis Voris early in the second.

Spencer Oyler scored for Chippewa just 45 seconds into the period. Ian Famulak followed with a goal at the 2:03 mark, and Hunter Weiss made it 4-0 at 2:52. Voris was pulled in favor of Jack Williams at that point.

Ben Schmidling broke the shutout with his team-leading 30th goal of the season at 3:21 into the second period, assisted by David Schmidling and Brendan The Jr. Blues' Brandon Puricelli followed with a power-play goal -- his 27th tally of the season -- assisted by Ben Schmidling and Max Brainin at 11:16 into the third.

But Chippewa closed out the scoring with goals from Jacob Dirks at 12:06 and Grisha Gotovets at 14:25.

The Jr. Blues fell despite outshooting Chippewa 43-22, including 32-11 over the final two periods. Josh Langford was in goal for the Steel.

Saturday's game marked the halfway point of eight straight games between Springfield and Chippewa. The Jr. Blues will host the Steel in another two-game series next Friday and Saturday in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.

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